Shirt



Nov. 8, 1938. M. w. GRIGSBY SHIRT Filed Sept. 11, 1937 Patented Nov. 8, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 5 Claims.

This invention relates to shirt cuffs and has been illustrated as embodying various inventive aspects. One is the combination of a detachable cuff, the position of which with respect to the shirt sleeve can readily be adjusted so as to provide a combined shirt sleeve and cuff of the proper length. Another inventive aspect of the invention is the combination. of the detachable cuff and a permanently attached cuff, which latter is in 10: appearance similar to the customary permanent cuff now provided on shirts so that it may be used independently of the detachable cuff when desired.

As every purchaser of shirts knows, the matter 16: of sleeve length is very annoying. Sleeves are always either slightly too long before laundering or slightly too short later. Furthermore, the ordinary commercial variations in sleeve lengths are too large to be exactly satisfactory in most 20 instances. It is usually desirable that the cuff protrude a certain small amount below the sleeve of the coat. Coat sleeves are fitted to the arm to within a quarter'of an inch or less, and so it can hardly be expected that the shirt sleeves which 25 vary by full inches can properly fit the coat sleeve except by pure coincidence. Furthermore, many people have one arm longer than the other and accordingly have their coat sleeves of slightly different lengths. If both shirt sleeves are of the 3 samelength, one must be too long or the other too short. To partially overcome these difficulties many people have their shirts made or altered to order, but this of course adds to the cost of the shirt. Furthermore, this does not overcome the 35 difficulty of shrinkage.

According to the present invention these difiiculties are overcome by providing the cuff on the shirt sleeve with a plurality of pairs of button holes and providing a detachable cuff which can be secured to the shirt sleeve by a cufi link extending through the single pair of button holes in the detachable cuff and through any one of the pairs of button holes in the permanent cuif. The detachablecuff hides the unused button holes and 4 therefore has the appearance of an ordinary French style cuff. The term French style is used to refer to that type of cuff which is doubled over and in which a cuff link is used, the ends of the cuff coinciding and both extending downwardly from the arm with the inner sides of the folded cuff adjacent one another. It distinguishes from the circular type of cuff which is unfolded and in which the ends overlap and a button secured to the inner end is passed through abuttonhole on-the outer end.

Many men do not want to bother ordinarily with the detachable cuffs above referred to, andv accordingly the present invention contemplates the combination of such a detachable cuff with a shirt having permanently attached thereon a cuff that may ordinarily be used alone and will have an entirely satisfactory appearance in spite of being designed to permit the detachable cufl' to be applied thereover when desired. As is well known, cuffs are often the first part of a shirt to get soiled or mussed. When they protrude from the coat sleeves as they should they may be soiled in the first few minutes of wear by accidentally coming in contact with some dirty article. After a day in the oil'ice men are often embarrassed by soiled cuffs though having no opportunity to change their shirts, which may be quite clean except for the cuffs. According to the present invention the appearance of a clean shirt may be obtained by attaching the detachable cuffs over the permanent cuffs. The feature of adjustability as to length need not be provided unless desired. The permanently attached cuffs are usually of the circular type and this style is followed in the present invention, but in order that the detachable French style cuff may be attached over the permanent cuff the inside end of the permanent cuff is provided with one or more button holes which serve no function when the cuff is used alone as a circular cuff but which permit proper attachment of the detachable French type cuff.

Additional objects will be apparent from the following description and from the drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the detachable cuff secured to a shirt sleeve in the extended position to provide the maximum total length.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view 40; looking in the direction of the arrows along the line 2--2 of Fig. 3. The full line position of the detachable cuff on the permanent cuff in Fig. 3 is chosen for the sectional view of this figure.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary elevational view showing the detachable cuif in its shortened position and in dotted lines indicating its intermediate position.

Fig. 4 is an elevational view showing the appearance of the permanent cuff when used without the detachable cuff, though it should be understood that the extra two buttons and corresponding button holes provided for adjustability of the detachable cuff may be omitted if this manner of adjustment is not desired. 5:.

Although this invention may take numerous forms, only one has been chosen for the purpose of illustration. According to this form the invention is illustrated in combination with a shirt sleeve III, at the end of which is secured a permanent cuff II, to which the detachable cuif I2 may be secured when desiredv The detachable cuff I2 is preferably secured by a link I3 which extends through button holes I4 in the detachable cuff I2 and through button holes IS, IT or I8 in the permanent cuff II. Since the detachable cuff I 2 is doubled around or straddles the permanent cuff II, as seen best in Fig. 2, it must be provided with four button holes which, when the cuff is doubled over, are alined so that the cuff link I3 may pass through all of them. Likewise, the button holes I6, I! and I8 of the permanent cuff II are provided in pairs, one on each end of the cuff, so that the link I3 may pass through both ends of the cuff.

In Fig. 1 the detachable cuff I2 has been shown attached to the cuff I I by a link extending through the pair of holes I6 in the cuff II. This causes the detachable cuff I2 to extend a considerable distance beyond the permanent cuff I I, thus having the effect of lengthening the sleeve II). In other words, the total length of the sleeve I0 including its cuff II and the detachable cuff I2 is perhaps an inch or so greater than the length of the sleeve III with its cuff II alone. If the cuff I2 were attached by the link I 3 extending through the button holes I8 in the cuff II as seen in full lines in Fig. 3, the total length would be substantially exactly the length of the sleeve III with its cuff II alone. An intermediate length can be provided by the cuff link I3 extending through the button holes I I as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 3.

It is thus evident that the present invention provides a ready means for adjusting the total length of the shirt sleeve to compensate for' shrinkage or variations in coat sleeve length, either between the two sleeves of one coat or between the sleeves of different coats. Furthermore, the possibilities of adjustment may be as small as desired, depending only on the spacing of the holes I6, I! and I8 so that fairly exact adjustment of the sleeve lengths may be obtained in this simple manner. It should be understood of course that more or less than the three pairs of holes shown in the cuff II may be provided. The spacing between the holes I6, I1 and I8 may be even or uneven, it being only necessary that the holes be spaced the same at both ends of the cuff so that the holes of each pair will coincide with one another.

Heretofore when detachable cuffs have been provided, they have been attached to a narrow cuff band which was so unsightly that the shirt could not desirably be used except with the detachable cuff in place. According to the present invention the permanent cuff II is designed in such a manner that it will be just as satisfactory when used alone as present permanently attached cuffs. Its use without the detachable cuff is illustrated in Fig. 4, in which it is seen that one set of the button holes I6, I! and I8 is hidden within the cuff, the other set I6, I1 and I8 being used for securing the cuff in its circular closed position. To this end buttons 2 I, 22 and 23 are provided for engaging the button holes I6, I? and I8. It will be observed that the buttons are spaced slightly away'from the button holes I6, I! and I8 on the same end of the cuff, but this is not objectionable since on a circular cuff the inside end is substantially hidden so that the button holes I6, I1 and I8 will not be visible when the cuff is used as a circular cuff and since it is desirable that the length of the French cuff from button hole to button hole be slightly greater than the length of the circular cuff from button hole to button. Although a single button 23, together with the corresponding pairof button holes I8 and I8, may be used in place of the three sets of buttons and button holes if adjustability is not desired, a plurality of sets of buttons and button holes is now preferred since it is believed that the desirability of this simple type of adjustability greatly offsets the slight inconvenience of buttoning a plurality of buttons. Furthermore, the plurality of buttons provides a neater effect than a single button, especially in keeping the cuff in the intended shape. With a plurality'of buttons and button holes the shape of the cuff can be accurately predetermined to be either uniform from top to bottom or slightly tapered downwardly as desired, and the corners 26 'may, if desired, be made fairly sharp instead of being very greatly rounded off as has been necessary with the single button cuffs heretofore. However, adjustability may be accomplished with only a single button, as 2I, and a corresponding pair of button-holes I6 and I6, if three or any other desired number of sets of button holes are provided at the ends of the cuff I2. This construction is not as desirable when employing the ordinary cuif link as I3, for instance, for those button-holes in the detachable cuff which are not covered by a link are exposed to view. With this construction, of course, the operation from that of the preferred form is substantially reversed, with the single pair of button-holes in the permanent cuff always being in use, while in the detachable cuff, only the aligned set of holes required for the particular adjustment desired are used for the fastening link and the other sets are exposed.

As is apparent from Figs. 1 and 3, the buttons 2|, 22 and 23 will be completely hidden by the detachable cuff I2 when it is attached. In fact it is evident from these figures that this detachable cuff I2 has the same perfect appearance for which cuffs of this style have sometimes been preferred heretofore.

Although a folded-over cuff has been illustrated, it should be understood that an unfolded cuff could be used if preferred,

at least when secured in the extended position, in which position it would sufficiently hide the end of the permanent cuff I I. The folded cuff is preferred partly because it will stay in place better on the attached cuff II'.

From the foregoing it is evident thatthe combination of a permanent cuff and a detachable cuff' with the unused'holes invisible or it may have its ends securedin coinciding relationship as by a link passing through the button holes to present the more formal appearance of this style of cuff (or in case the button should come off). When the cuff is used in this manner without the detachable cuff, it would ordinarily be'desired that there be only one button and one pair of button holes on the cuff. The button and button-holes may be positioned as far back as the center of the cuff, or they may be positioned nearer the outer end of the cuff to permit the adjustment of a detachable cuff with several sets of button-holes as described in the paragraph above.

The disclosures of this application are illustrative and the invention is not to be limited by them. In fact, if modifications or improvements are not at once obvious, they may be devised in the course of time to make additional use of the broad ideas taught and covered by this application. The claims are intended to point out novel features and not to limit the invention except as may be required by prior art.

I claim:

1. The combination of a garment having a sleeve and a permanent normal appearing split cuff thereon, and a folded detachable all-cloth split cuff of normal appearance adapted to straddle the permanent cuff and to be secured thereto by means extending through aligned buttonholes in the permanent cuff and detachable cuff, one of said split cuffs having a plurality of sets of buttonholes, with each set comprising at least one buttonhole in each end of said one split cuff and transversely aligned with one another, said plurality of sets each spaced apart from one another in a direction longitudinally of the sleeve, and the other of said split cuffs having only a single set of buttonholes, with the latter holes aligned with a selected set of holes among said plurality of sets in said one cuff to provide adjustability of the detachable cuff with respect to the permanent cuff to vary the total sleeve length thereby at the cuff portion.

2. The combination of a garment having a sleeve and a permanent barrel cuff thereon, and a detachable all-cloth French cuff adapted to straddle the permanent cuff and to be secured thereto by means extending through coinciding buttonholes in the permanent cuff and detachable cuff, the permanent cuff having a plurality of sets of buttonholes, with each set comprising a buttonhole in each end of the permanent cuff and transversely aligned with one another, said plurality of sets each spaced apart from one another in a direction longitudinally of the sleeve, and the detachablecuif having a single button hole in each fold of each end thereof to provide four coinciding buttonholes, with the latter holes coinciding with a single set of buttonholes on the permanent cuff to provide adjustability as between the two cuffs to vary at the cuff portion the total length of the sleeve.

3. The combination of a garment having a sleeve and a permanent barrel cuff thereon, and a detachable all-cloth French cuff adapted to straddle the barrel cuff and to be secured thereto by means extending through aligned buttonholes in each cuff, with said barrel cuif having a buttonhole in each end of the cuff and a button adjacent one of said buttonholes for engaging the other buttonhole to close the cuff in circular formation to adapt such permanent barrel cuff for use independently of the detachable French cuff.

4. The combination of a garment having a sleeve and a complete permanent split cuff thereon, and a folded detachable all-cloth cuff adapted to straddle the permanent cuff and to be secured thereto by means extending through aligned buttonholes in the permanent cuff and detachable cuff, the permanent cuff having a plurality of buttonholes on each end spaced apart longitudinally of the sleeve with the buttonholes in one end corresponding in position with the buttonholes on the other end, and said detachable cuff being secured thereto at selected aligned buttonholes to provide adjustability for the detachable cuff thereon to vary the total sleeve length thereby, said permanent cuff having a button on the outside thereof adjacent a buttonhole on one end of the cuff and positioned correspondingly thereto to engage a buttonhole on the other end of the cuff to close said cuff in a circular formation to adapt it for use independently, of the detachable cuff.

5. The combination of a shirt having a sleeve and a barrel-type permanent cuff thereon, and a detachable all-cloth French-type cuff adapted to straddle the permanent cuff and to be secured thereto solely by means extending through aligned buttonholes in the permanent cuff and detachable cuff, one of said cuffs having a plurality of sets of buttonholes, with each set comprising at least one buttonhole in each end of said one cuff, said plurality of sets each spaced apart from another set in a direction longitudinally of the shirt sleeve, and the other of said cuffs having a single set of buttonholes, with the latter holes aligned with a selected set of buttonholes among said plurality of sets in said one cuff for receiving said securing means to provide adjustability as between said cuffs to vary the total sleeve length, and a button on one end of the permanent cuif adjacent a set buttonhole to engage a buttonhole of such set on the other end of the cuff to close the permanent cufi in a circular formation to adapt it for use independently of the detachable cuff.

MARION W. GRIGSBY. 

